Every once in a while, we have a sick pup. Either they ate goose poop (yup!) and have spores in their tummies, or they just are having a hard time adjusting to something new...it happens a few times a year, depending on what they get themselves into and where they've been. It is good to keep a "bland diet" stored away in your freezer for times like these. You don't want to have to leave your baby to go to the store just to buy them food to make them feel better...just keep it on hand, so you'll always have it when you need it and it will take a lot of the frustration away.
For average, non-urate-stone forming dogs, this is what I suggest:
Chicken Breast
Rice
Yogurt
Banana, Pumpkin, or Applesauce
That's the basic list.
Here's the subtleties:
Chicken Breast
You'll want to cook the crap out of it to make sure it has no lingering creepy bacteria. You don't want to make your dog sicker. Even though their tummies can usually handle more than we can, when they are fighting something already, don't add to the mix. I boil the chicken in a big pot, and make about 8 breasts for Gordie for 4 days. He gets 2 breasts over the course of 1 day, and he weighs 140 pounds. Angus gets about half that. You can do the math for your baby's size. Once the chicken has cooled a bit on a plate, I shred it. Shredded chicken goes down the throat smoother, and is easier to digest than cubed or cut up chicken. A very friendly, helpful emergency veterinarian taught us that when Angus went in with a bug a while back.
Rice
I use the cooking water from the chicken to make the rice with. I let the water cool, then I fill up my rice cooker with it, and add the appropriate amount of rice for the amount of liquid. Each rice cooker is different. I make about 6 cups cooked rice. You can skim the chicken cooking liquid of fat before using, if you are concerned about that. I sometimes ignore this step, but try to do it when I have time and remember. Prepare the rice as you normally would cook rice, but don't add ANYTHING. No salt, no nothin'. Just plain. The chicken cooking liquid both saves water (yea for the environment!), but it also imparts some more flavor without making the food too rich or salty or heavy for dog bellies.
Yogurt
I continue with my usual 1 tbsp. daily regime when our boys are sick, to help with that bacteria stuff. If your dog is lactose intolerant, you'll want to avoid the yogurt.
Bananas, Pumpkin, or Applesauce
What you use depends on what the problem is. If you have a dog with diarrhea, go with 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix!!) in each meal. If the pumpkin doesn't work or your baby doesn't like the sweet delicious autumnal essence of pumpkin, try 1/2 a mashed banana in each meal. The softer the banana, the better. It is a great time to use up those uggie brown ones before they turn into banana-booze. If your pooch is constipated, use the applesauce. I go with 1/2 cup per meal until I SEE results. Heh. These amounts are appropriate for all dogs over 50 pounds. Under 50, shrink it down proportionately.
You'll want to feed your baby 4 times a day. With Gordie, I feed 1/2 chicken breast at all four meals, plus 1/2 cup rice at each meal, 1/4 tbsp. yogurt, and whatever fruit I'm adding (banana, pumpkin, applesauce). I mix everything together well, and make sure the rice isn't lumpy and the shredded chicken is nice and thin and managable. Be sure to provide your babe with plenty of water, unless instructed by your vet to withhold.
When it comes to stone formers, use 1/2 cooked plain egg white (just nuke it for 30 seconds) for each 1/2 chicken breast. The rest is the same as above.
I do not use supplements for the dogs during their illness. It can be a little harsh on sore tummies, and it can conflict with medication, so inform your vet that you will not be using supplements until they are well again, and make sure it is safe to start using it again if your baby will be on medication for a while.
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My baby is Dalila a 16 month old american bulldog. My last american bulldog Gaesha passed away last June she was 14 and the love of my life. Now my baby is having major allergy problems. The vet says food. I have her on Blue wilderness and had her on Blue beef and brown rice but got wildernes cause thought it would be better for. But now she has rash on belly and major poops very loose and gassy. Dr says dont feed anything except dog food. she is allergic. What should I do. she did better on original blue should i switch back. Im so confused of dos and donts. can u help me?
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your Gaesha. Losing a beloved member of the family is harder than words can express. The loneliness we felt after losing our Rosie was incomparable to any other feeling we've had in life. And if your dog is just a pet, you can't understand. When they are your family, your world, it's one of the hardest things to get through. I hope Dalila is helping ease the pain and to fill up your heart. We've always said that Angus saved us after Rosie passed. Without him, we wouldn't have made it through. My thoughts are with you.
ReplyDeleteHope I can help with Delila! I just love American bulldogs!! :)
If the vet said allergies, that may well be the case, but they should have instructed you to do an "exclusion diet" to determine what, if any, foods are allergies for your baby specifically. I used Buffalo Blue (the one with lamb) for our Saint Bernard one time last year, and I was very disappointed with the results...loose stools and lots of gas, hot spots, etc. He's usually a pretty hearty guy who can stand almost any food, so to see those results with just one bag of food (about a 3 week period for him on that food), was pretty alarming.
Innova tends to be a very allergy friendly blend, so that might be worth a try, especially if you are seeing skin issues. Our previous bulldog, Rosie, who had more of an American bulldog type English bulldog build (the more muscle-ly toned bulldog versus the wrinkly kind that Angus is) had allergies bad--very itchy feet and belly all the time, itchy hot spots on her arms, and lots of bad poops and smelly gas. She was on Innova with yogurt daily for a little while and it cleared up naturally within about 1 month, and all the way within 2 months.
I think the real catch with the Blue situation is if she did better on the other one, that's a good sign, but if she wasn't thriving on the other one, it might be worth continuing to search for the right food. I understand your frustration and feeling helpless--I've been there! Just keep going--you WILL find the answer, I promise! :)
If you are interested in doing the exclusion diet, Wellness brand makes a line of single protein foods that are great for ruling out certain allergens. I think there is a chicken, a lamb, and a fish blend. I might try those if you wanted to try the exclusion idea. There are a few other brands that also make single protein foods that could be good options, though I'm less familiar with them.
This website has some great information about exclusion diets:
http://www.vetspecialists.co.uk/06_Animal_Welfare/Internal_Medicine/Exclusion_Diet.html
They suggest doing 4 weeks of one food, and sometimes up to 12 weeks. However, if you see an immediate improvement that continues to better over a few days, that is enough justification for me.
Most dogs with skin allergies have them because of meats like chicken or beef or protein from soy, but wheat and corn are known allergens to dogs as well, and almost all dogs are unable to tolerate wheat, corn, and soy to some degree. So, it might even be worth trying something like Orijen or Innova's EVO, which are grain-free, protein rich foods. Just be sure to only feed a small amount, because they are nutrient and protein dense and because there are no grains, there's no real filler, so they need much less volume of the grain-less food. When our Saint Bernard was on EVO, he ate about 1/2 the amount of EVO than of regular Innova blend, to give you an idea.
Of course, I'm as long winded as always and ran out of room.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to follow up and say that yogurt daily may well clear up a lot of her issues, so if I were to do anything, I would start with that first if she doesn't already get yogurt. I use the plain generic kind from the grocery store that comes in a big fat tub, but whatever kind of regular low fat yogurt you can get will help. If you see an improvement with the yogurt, definitely keep using it on a regular basis. If she gets looser stools at first, just wait and see for another couple of days. Sometimes the initial adjustment to yogurt gives them some loose stools for a few days, but then it clears up. If she has an immediate bad reaction, like explosive diarrhea, then, obviously, avoid the yogurt, and assume that she could have dairy (lactose) allergies. It's probably the cheapest allergy to rule out, and also the yogurt could potentially make a vast improvement for her health (inside and out), so it is sort of killing two birds with one stone.
If I have confused you, or if you have further questions, please feel free to ask! There are no dumb questions, and chances are, someone else will read this and recognize a similar problem on there end, so it's always worth checking! I hope this is of some help, and please let me know how your baby is doing! I hope we can find the right solution for her, and if these ideas don't work, we'll keep working on it until we find the right answer, I promise. There's nothing worse than being frustrated about your babe and feeling as though you're alone in the process. We will solve this! :)